Scots delight as Glasgow wins bid for 2014 Commonwealth Games

Glasgow was today chosen to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, beating off a challenge from the Nigerian capital Abuja.

The decision sparked widespread celebrations in Scotland, and the Queen sent a message of congratulations for the "impressive achievement" of the bid team.

The 11-day sporting spectacular is expected to cost £288 million - barely three per cent of the £9.3 billion budget for the London Olympics to be held two years earlier.

However, English taxpayers are likely to have to pay almost £50 million of the bill because of Scotland's generous funding formula from Westminster.

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The Scottish Executive will meet 80 per cent of the costs - with Glasgow council taxpayers providing the rest - and it is estimated that a fifth of the Executive's funds come from British taxpayers south of the border.

The modest budget for the Commonwealth Games in comparison with the Olympics reflects the smaller scale of the games and the fact that most of the venues needed in Glasgow - including the main stadium - are already built, with the exception of a cycling velodrome and an arena for netball matches.

The £288million budget for the entire Commonwealth Games is less than two thirds of the latest cost simply to build the controversial Olympic stadium in east London.

In her message, the Queen said: "I send my warm congratulations to everyone involved in Glasgow's successful bid to hold the 2014 Commonwealth Games - the third time that a Scottish city has been chosen as a venue for the games.

"My good wishes go to you all and to the people of Glasgow as you celebrate this impressive achievement."

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Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said: "We will make these games the greatest sporting event our country has ever seen."

The BBC was forced to apologise for its coverage of the announcement in Sri Lanka after it missed the crucial moment, and only cut to live footage in time to show Scottish bid officials celebrating.

The Glasgow bid in figures

• The budget for the Games is £288 million, with an extra £9.5 million contingency on top.

• Sir Sean Connery is an ambassador for Glasgow's bid. He sent each delegate a letter earlier this year.

• 1,765,087 individuals and organisations signed up to back Scotland's bid to host the games.

• The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council agreed to underwrite the costs of staging the Games. This will be on the basis of an 80/20 split. It is expected that the majority of the 80% of costs to be covered by the Executive will be new money committed to the sports and major events budget.

• The Games would be held over 11 days, with the opening ceremony on July 23 2014, and the last day of competition and closing ceremony on August 3 2014.

• There would be between 6,000 and 6,500 athletes and officials attending the Games.

• They would be housed in a purpose-built Athletes' Village in the east end of the city. The houses will be made available for sale or socially rented housing after the games.